Floodwaters are receding in Iowa and residents there are beginning to assess the full impact of the Great Flood of 2008. In Cedar Rapids, the tragic flooding closed the federal and county courthouses and required both courts to set up temporary courtrooms elsewhere. A notice posted this morning on the Web site of the U.S. District Court says that the court building remains closed and that operations will move elsewhere in Cedar Rapids and "be extremely limited" this week. (The disaster does underscore the efficacy of electronic filing, which continues to operate without interruption.) Damage to the county courthouse was extensive, according to the Cedar Rapids Gazette, where courtrooms in the building's basement and sub-basement were ruined. The Iowa Judicial Branch Web site has updates on court closings and openings throughout the state. In Iowa City, the University of Iowa College of Law is closed for "the immediate future."

I have been unable to find news reports or blog posts detailing the impact of Iowa's flooding on practitioners there. Nothing about the flooding shows up on the Web site of the Iowa State Bar Association. West Des Moines lawyer Rush Nigut has some posts at his blog, Rush on Business, noting that his firm, Brick Gentry, is offering office space to help displaced lawyers and pointing to these news photos, which include shots of the flooded county courthouse. But I have found nothing indicating whether any lawyers were, in fact, displaced. Perhaps no news is good news in this case. If readers of this blog have information on the status of lawyers in flood areas, please share it below.

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Iowa Flooding Closes Courts, Law School

Floodwaters are receding in Iowa and residents there are beginning to assess the full impact of the Great Flood of 2008. In Cedar Rapids, the tragic flooding closed the federal and county courthouses and required both courts to set up temporary courtrooms elsewhere. A notice posted this morning on the Web site of the U.S. District Court says that the court building remains closed and that operations will move elsewhere in Cedar Rapids and "be extremely limited" this week. (The disaster does underscore the efficacy of electronic filing, which continues to operate without interruption.) Damage to the county courthouse was extensive, according to the Cedar Rapids Gazette, where courtrooms in the building's basement and sub-basement were ruined. The Iowa Judicial Branch Web site has updates on court closings and openings throughout the state. In Iowa City, the University of Iowa College of Law is closed for "the immediate future."

I have been unable to find news reports or blog posts detailing the impact of Iowa's flooding on practitioners there. Nothing about the flooding shows up on the Web site of the Iowa State Bar Association. West Des Moines lawyer Rush Nigut has some posts at his blog, Rush on Business, noting that his firm, Brick Gentry, is offering office space to help displaced lawyers and pointing to these news photos, which include shots of the flooded county courthouse. But I have found nothing indicating whether any lawyers were, in fact, displaced. Perhaps no news is good news in this case. If readers of this blog have information on the status of lawyers in flood areas, please share it below.